Ballistic panel

ABSTRACT

A structural sandwich panel including a structural sheet bonded to two adjacent sheets with a plurality of spaced columnar projections extending perpendicularly from a local face from the sheets. The sectional panel may be interposed in a void of a double-wall ballistic sandwich panel. The panel provides an interconnected interstitial space between layers that may serve as a filler space for the placement of force diffusing material such as ball bearings to deflect and defeat any projectile when used as a ballistic panel in light amour vehicles, water craft, personnel protection and building structure or equipment, but also provides maximized structural rigidity in the length and width direction of a product.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

There are many different battlefield threats that armor for personnel, building structure or equipment, and military vehicles or ships must protect against. The invention relates to the field of ballistic resistant panel products or structure and in particular to multi layers system utilizing a three dimensional sandwich core (Cup Core™) with ceramic ball bearings or hardened material as filler in between an outer composite Strike Plate and an inner composite Backing Plate. The interstice space in the sandwich core is to be filled with an advanced composite material such as ceramic ball bearings, polymer matrix, or any selected advanced toughened material to encounter the projectile by deformation, deflection and disintegration prior to reaching the Backing Plate.

In order to defeat modern threats, which are becoming more and more lethal, a tremendous amount of the traditional armor such as monolithic metallic armor systems is required. This amount of armor often overwhelms the suspension and drive systems on light armored vehicles or it increases the payloads to battleships and water crafts, making them slow, cumbersome and unreliable.

This invention can not only stop the ballistic threats, when properly designed, it may also be integrated into the core of the vehicle or equipment to provide structural and fire barrier protection as well.

The system represents a new generation composite armor system relative to excellent ballistic and structural performance. It can be tailored for producing large flat, multi shaped or contoured panels utilizing any conventional manufacturing techniques such as contact molding, vacuum infusion process, vacuum transfer molding, filament winding and compression molding. The benefits are improved ballistic performance at a lower weight, improved structural integrity, easier fabrication and lower cost.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Substantial studies have been conducted on ceramic plate material backed by a ductile metal or composite plate against various types of projectiles. Those conventional methods are heavy, non-versatile and expensive. The use of ceramic and composite material in conjunction with steel for ballistic protection is a common practice in the defense industry. This new product by utilizing Chemposite's novel Cup Core™ design to consolidate the ultra-light characteristic of composite material and the toughness of ceramic ball bearing or advanced polymer material.

Composite materials have various properties that make them excellent for engineering applications. Generally, these materials offer qualities of strength, stiffness in tension, flexure and shear. The useful characteristics of various structural products are somewhat dependent on their geometric shape. Materials such as steel and other metals are available in various standard shapes that optimize the desired characteristics. The shapes commonly made reflect the necessities of the manufacturing process.

In the simplest application, the current application relates to a sandwich panel consisting of the Cup Core™ as the core material and bonded to two adjacent plates made of composite material such as fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) or any advanced composite material molded to any form according to the product requirement. The panel will provide a hollow section in the length and the width direction by extending an array of features in the both direction between the two faces for structural integrity and media filling.

For structural integrity, several methods to achieve this are well known; for example, in aerospace, honeycomb shapes are bonded between thin structural sheets of metal or composite materials. Another method is to use adhesive or other proprietary materials between the two interfaces as seen in the composite industry. All these solutions have drawbacks in bonding two different materials together such as ceramic and polymer material. Sometimes the integration of the system components is done in an autoclave under controlled temperatures and pressures to assure the optimum bonding of the components into the system. Additionally, the bonding in the prior art, is vulnerable to water intrusion and delamination. Furthermore, the bonding between the two interface layers and the core material may be limited and inconsistent.

For ballistic protection, a fiber-based composite armor requires a hard facing material such as a ceramic plate in order to stop or slow down the armor piercing projectiles. This new invention is focused on using the full composite structural panel consisting of the Cup Core™ as the core material to create an interstice space for the filling of media such as ceramic ball bearings or any hardened material. When the projectile goes through the strike plate, it will encounter the projectile prior to hitting the media layer of the ceramic ball bearings, confining the front of the ceramic and mitigating the spall. The ball bearings or any hardened material in the interstitial space will deflect the projectile before defeating it. Furthermore, if ceramic ball bearings is used, the placement of the ceramic material in layers will transfer the impact force to its adjacent ceramic material and the absorption of the kinetic energy of the fragments. Thus, reducing the conoid formation to the composite backing plate that could cause plate failure and the full penetration of the projectile.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the description that follows.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention there is provided a structural panel. The panel includes a sectional sheet and a plurality of spaced columnar projections extending perpendicularly from a local face from said sheet.

The projections may be shaped to provide structural shear rigidity to the structural panel. The projections may also be shaped to provide an interstitial space in the structural panel when the media such as ceramic ball bearings or any hardened material are inserted into the void or interstitial space of the ballistic panel structure.

The projections may include a columnar wall extending from the sheet and may connect to the back plate. The strike plate and backing plate when bonded to the Cup Core structural panel, may be parallel to the local face and the columnar wall may extend from the sheet in the form of a dome with a radius of 40 mm and a base for connection to the adjacent sheets.

The projections may be hollow up to the said plate and may be regularly spaced along said sheet. The regular spacing of the projections in a width of the sheet may be 100 mm and the regular spacing of the projections in a length of the sheet may be 100 mm. In the alternative, the projections may be irregularly spaced along the sheet.

The base may be circular in shape or may be a non-infinite polygon in shape.

The projections may be shaped to resemble a dome shape with a base and an open top at the sheet. The dome shape may have a diameter of 55 mm at the open top, a base diameter of 36 mm, a depth of 16 mm from the open top to the base and a radius of 40 mm as measured from the open top to the columnar wall.

The projections may all extend from the same side of the sheet.

According to another embodiment of the present invention there is provided a structural panel for insertion in a void of a ballistic panel. The panel may include a sectional sheet and a plurality of spaced columnar projections extending perpendicularly from a face of the sheet.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method of producing a structural panel. The method may include providing a sectional sheet, which may be placed through a roller, and forming a plurality of spaced columnar projections extending perpendicularly from a local face from the sheet.

Forming the plurality of spaced columnar projections may include placing the sheet over a mold which may be inserted into a machine press.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method of increasing the structural integrity of a structure. The method may include providing a sectional sheet having a plurality of spaced columnar projections extending perpendicularly from a local face from the sheet. Bonding means may be provided to affix the sectional sheet to the structure. The sectional sheet may then be allowed sufficient time to bond to the structure.

The bonding means may include an adhesive, a weld, a mechanical fastener and/or other equivalent means.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention there is provided a use of a structural panel for increasing the structural integrity of a structure. The structural panel may include a sectional sheet and a plurality of spaced columnar projections extending perpendicularly from a local face from the sheet.

A monolithic advanced composite encapsulation with ceramic ball bearings or any hardened material in the interstitial space will provide a strong structure. Eliminate the concern or requirement for special bonding between various materials such as ceramic/metal or composite/metal that could require an autoclave under controlled temperature and pressure to ensure the optimum bonding of the components into the system. Additionally, a fluid such as a Shear-Thickening Fluid (STF) may be used in the interstitial space.

Other aspects of the invention will be appreciated by reference to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment and to the claims that follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The preferred embodiment of the invention will be described by reference to the drawings thereof in which:

FIG. 1 a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the ballistic panel invention;

FIG. 2 is a view along line A-A of Fig of FIG. 1.; and

FIG. 3 is top view of a structural sheet of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 a ballistic panel 10 is depicted. Panel 10 includes a sectional sheet 12 and a plurality of spaced columnar projections 14 extending perpendicularly from a local face from sheet 12. Here, projections 14 are depicted as extending from the same side of sheet 12, however, as those skilled in the art will appreciate, projections 14 may extend from either side of sheet 12 depending upon the application. Each columnar projection 14 may be shaped and sized to meet structural requirements and as those skilled in the art will appreciate, the columnar projection is not limited to those depicted.

Sheet 12 is commonly formed in a continuous process and supplied in sheet format to be used as a sandwich core material in composite products. Here, a sectional sheet is provided via conventional means and a plurality of spaced columnar projections are formed that extend perpendicularly from a local face from the sheet.

Each of projections 14 include a columnar wall 16 extending from sheet 12 and connecting with a base 18. As depicted, base 18 runs parallel to the local face and columnar wall 16 extends from sheet 12 in the form of a dome with a common radius, an open end and a flat base. Sheet 12 and projections 14 may have a wall thickness of preferably approximately 3.5 mm.

Projections 14 are preferably hollow up to base 18 and are regularly spaced along sheet 12. Preferably, the regular spacing of projections 14 in a width of sheet 12 is 100 mm centre-to-centre and the regular spacing of projections 14 in a length of sheet 12 is 100 mm centre-to-centre. In the alternative, projections 14 may be irregularly spaced along sheet 12.

As depicted, base 18 is circular in shape, but it is also contemplated that base 18 may be a non-infinite polygon in shape, for example, a pentagon. As depicted, projections 14 are preferably shaped to resemble a dome with a base 18 and an open end at sheet 12. Preferably, the dome has a diameter of 55 mm at the open top, a base diameter of 36 mm, a depth of 16 mm from the open top to the base and a common radius of 40 mm as measured from the center point of the open top to columnar wall 16.

Sheet 12 is sandwiched between upper layer strike plate 100 and lower layer backing plate 102. Strike plate 100 and backing plate 102 are affixed to sheet 12 through conventional bonding techniques.

Although sheet 12 is depicted as a flat sheet and sandwich core material, sheet 12 may be any configurable shape depending upon its application. Sheet 12 will generally be bonded in between any composite plates or sheets either through custom fabrication or manufacturing processes.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, projections 14 are shaped to also provide structural shear rigidity to the armored panel structure. The exact shape and spacing of projections 14 will be dependent upon the particular application and the dimensions and shapes described and illustrated are only preferred embodiments of the invention.

The projections may also be shaped to provide an interstitial space in the panel when any hardened material is inserted in the void of the ballistic panel. The projections may also be shaped to provide an interstitial space in the panel when ceramic ball bearings or any hardened material is inserted in the void of the ballistic panel.

The structural panel with its uneven or bump shape design, allows any hardened material or ball bearings to be filled in the cavity in between the hallow section of the panel in order to increase stiffness and hardness to the panel. The section will be filled with any media of any size or material such as Shear-Thickening Fluids (SFTs) or ceramic ball bearings to deflect and defeat the projectile. Optimally, ball bearings 10 mm in diameter or smaller are preferable. This panel design can also act as a structural sandwich core material to increase the strength of the equipment and reduce the weight and material usage in production.

This new product is designed to eliminate the older technique in attaching a hardened plate such as metal or ceramic plate in front of the composite plate to encounter and defeat the projectile. This product has increased the production efficiency of any armored product since the material is supplied in a prefabricated product shape such as a boat haul, light armor vehicle body, body armor or building structure and not in raw material form such as a raw plate or fabric products. Its shape has more contact or bonding area than any other sandwich material such as honeycomb core that is commonly used in the structural application. Its solid panel with its engineered shape and size has enhanced the strongest structural form available according to the product requirement. This will increase the flexibility in the future design in armor protection products for added strength and/or ballistic protection.

It will thus be seen that a new and novel structural panel has been illustrated and described and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the preferred and alternative embodiments have been described in some detail but that certain modifications may be practiced without departing from the principles of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A ballistic panel comprising: a sectional sheet having a plurality of spaced projections extending perpendicularly from a local face from said sheet, wherein said projections are configured to provide an interstitial space in said sectional sheet; an upper layer strike plate and a lower layer backing plate, said upper strike plate and said lower backing plate being connected to said sectional sheet to sandwich said sectional sheet and said projections; and a force diffusing insert inserted into said interstitial space.
 2. The panel of claim 1 wherein each of the said projections comprises a columnar wall extending from said sheet and connecting to a base, said base being parallel to said local face, said columnar wall extending from said sheet with an initial radius of 40 mm, said base being connected to said upper strike plate
 3. The panel of claim 2 wherein said columnar wall extends from said sheet in the form of a dome with a common radius and a flat base.
 4. The panel of claim 2 wherein said projections are hollow up to said base.
 5. The panel of claim 1 wherein said projections are regularly spaced along said sheet.
 6. The panel of claim 5 wherein said regular spacing of the projections in a width of said sheet is 100 mm and said regular spacing of the projections in a length of said sheet is 100 mm.
 7. The panel of claim 1 wherein said projections are irregularly spaced along said sheet.
 8. The panel of claim 2 wherein said base is circular in shape.
 9. The panel of claim 2 wherein said base is a non-infinite polygon in shape.
 10. The panel of claim 1 wherein said projections are shaped to resemble a dome with a base and an open top at the said sheet.
 11. The panel of claim 10 wherein said dome shape has a diameter of 55 mm at said open top, a base diameter of 36 mm, a depth of 16 mm from the open top to said base and an inside radius of 40 mm as measured from said center point of the open top to said columnar wall.
 12. The panel of claim 1 wherein said projections all extend from the same side of said sheet.
 13. The panel of claim 1 wherein each of said projections comprises a columnar wall extending from said sheet and connecting to a base, said base being parallel to said local face, said columnar wall extending from said sheet in the form of a dome.
 14. The panel of claim 13 wherein said columnar wall extends from said sheet has a common radius equal to the diameter of the open top.
 15. The panel of claim 13 wherein said projections are hollow up to said base.
 16. The panel of claim 13 wherein said projections are regularly spaced along said sheet.
 17. The panel of claim 13 wherein said regular spacing of the projections in a width of said sheet is 100 mm and said regular spacing of the projections in a length of said sheet is 100 mm.
 18. The panel of claim 13 wherein said projections are irregularly spaced along said sheet.
 19. The panel of claim 13 wherein said base is circular in shape.
 20. The panel of claim 13 wherein said base is a non-infinite polygon in shape.
 21. The panel of claim 1 wherein said projections are shaped to resemble a muffin cup shape with a base and an open top at the said sheet.
 22. The panel of claim 21 wherein said dome has a diameter of 55 mm at said open top, a base diameter of 36 mm, a depth of 16 mm from the open top to said base and a radius of 40 mm as measured from said center point of the open top to said columnar wall.
 23. The panel of claim 21 wherein said projections all extend from the same side of said sheet.
 24. A method of producing a ballistic panel comprising: providing a sectional sheet; forming a plurality of spaced columnar projections extending perpendicularly from a local face from said sheet; providing an upper layer strike plate and a lower layer backing plate; and sandwiching said section sheet and said projections between said upper strike plate and said lower backing plate.
 25. The method of claim 24 wherein forming said plurality of spaced columnar projections comprises placing said sheet over a mould.
 26. The method of claim 25 further comprising placing said sheet and mould into a machine press or a rotation molding machine.
 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising the application of conventional fabrication techniques with contact molding, compression molding, vacuum bagging, vacuum infusion process and resin transfer molding.
 28. Use of a sectional sheet for ballistic protection, said sectional sheet comprising a plurality of spaced columnar projections extending perpendicularly from a local face from said sheet. 